Logos is vital for the evangelist’s appreciation of the person of Jesus but only used in the Prologue. This was to show pre-existence, creator, life and light of men, flesh which is ‘sarx’ superior to John he Baptist, an encounter between the earthly and the heavenly.
Jesus is also described as the ‘son of God’ in 1v14 ‘Became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth’. Unique as the Son of God who shares his glory, has power and authority, divinity. Jesus refers to God as Father as in 3v35 ‘My Father is working still, and I am working’. The Jewish authorities considered this blasphemous e.g. ‘Before Abraham was I am’, 8v58 and 10v30 ‘I and the Father are one’. John presents Jesus using ‘I am’ and the language of the divine, which Jesus shares, the divine status.
Jesus as Lord, which is a title, which shows Jesus as a figure to be respected, used by Martha and Mary to stress the belief that Jesus is the Messiah. Chapter 13 shows examples of Simon Peter, John and Thomas call Jesus Lord.
Jesus as the prophet, Messiah and King of Israel in 4v19 the Samaritan woman acknowledges Jesus as a Prophet. This term implies Jesus’ knowingness and evident in trials and passion narratives, John portrays Jesus as ‘The Prophet’. 6v14 is the feeding of the 5000 shows supremacy and quotes of the Lord. 1v17, Jesus is identified as Christos like the Messiah. Unlike Mark’s gospel there is no veiled Messianic Secret in John for example in Signs. 7v14 ‘This is the Christ’. Mary anoints Jesus a sign of Messiahship. Jesus is rejected, he lays down his life freely and re-enters glory. Kingship is a recurring theme, when Jesus enters Jerusalem, in his trials and the notice, which Pilate put above his head ‘King of the Jews’.
Jesus as the Son of Man This is the title Jesus gave to himself and no one else in the time of Jesus used it to describe him.
It dates back to the book of Daniel 7:13- 14. Through Daniels vision we notice that the Son of man has authority. This belief is linked to Mark 2:10, here the Son of man has authority to forgive sins and Mark 2:28 he is lord of the Sabbath. Roman Catholics believe that the priest is acting as the person of Jesus in the confession as he has authority to forgive sins (Mark 2: 1- 2). They also believe that he is seated at the right hand of the father, this is derived from the Nicene Creed.
From Daniel Christians also believe that Jesus was saying he was the one who would come and judge the earth, (Mark 8: 37, 14: 62).
Jesus is also linked to the suffering servant of Isaiah, as if we look at Jesus' baptism God says he is his Son whom he is well pleased with and with the servant he uses the same words. As well as Jesus who says he is on who will suffer and die for others, he identifies himself with the servant, the servant and so some scholars believe that when Jesus identifies the mission of the Son of Man he is connecting it with the suffering servant of Isaiah.
From this Christians believe the Son of Man as one who suffers, dies and rises again, Christians believe he died fro us, Mark 10: 48, in order to save us from sin and eternal death. Christians understood the title Jesus being fully God and fully human. Today it emphasises how human Jesus is, it is not a denial of his deity however, infect he clearly claimed to be God many times (Matt 16: 16- 17; John 8:58; John 10:30).
In the psalms and Ezekiel it is used as a poetic term for a human being, so this title also stresses that in the time of Jesus the term Son of man simply meant as an ordinary man
Christians today believe the Son of man overcome death because God raised him to life to judge us and our sins and this emphasised in Revelation 11:15.
From John the Baptist mentioned in the Prologue, Jesus is superior to the one who gives testimony to him; John bears witness to the light, Jesus is the light. Bultmann maintains John emphasises Jesus in order to oppose a Baptist sect.
The humanity of Jesus 1v14 flesh, blood and water flowed from his side on the cross, ‘Behold the man’ said by the Pilate. Docetists maintained Jesus only seemed human; in reality he was God. However, Jesus walked, talked, was tired, sat down, carried his cross and died. Jesus also had emotions, he wept, he loved and his humanity, e.g. when he became flesh he was the logos, when he was tired at the well, he also gave living water, while his resurrected body can be touched by Thomas, he is ‘My Lord and my God’.
